Source: Cadence
February 6, 2008

Cadence Enables STMicroelectronics to Verify Latest Multimedia Designs for Wireless Devices

Cadence Environment Used to Verify STMicroelectronics Nomadik-based Connected Mobile Multimedia Handset Designs with Incisive Specman and Incisive Enterprise Manager

Bracknell, UK, 6 February 2008 - Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), the leader in global electronic-design innovation, today announced that STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) has successfully taped out its newest leading-edge mobile multimedia Nomadik® platform using the Cadence® Incisive® Enterprise verification family. The advanced verification solution for verification engineers included the Incisive Specman® Elite® Testbench and Incisive Enterprise Manager, a powerful combination of technology within the Plan-to-Closure Methodology for automating the verification process. The STMicroelectronics Nomadik family of multimedia application processor chips enables portable devices to play music, take pictures, record video and host two-way video communication in real time.

Many of ST's latest networking designs include ARM-based cores and use the internal STBus for much of the underlying infrastructure. To improve ease of use and adoption, ST developed a complementary verification cockpit, leveraging much of Cadence technology for plug-and-play verification capabilities. The cockpit allowed the design team to run verification cycles in simulation, implement verification IP, and gather and measure coverage progress in a push-button fashion. As a result, ST gained tremendous time savings allowing them to quantify the overall quality of the verification.

"Our verification team takes pride in the ability to quickly set up verification environments for our IP portfolio that allow us to rapidly identify and address issues and measure progress," said Clara Tibaldi, communication IPs verification manager at STMicroelectonics. "Cadence is delivering the testbench and management layer within a coverage-driven methodology that allows our team to pay detailed attention to delivering quality products on schedule."

Specman technology, as part of both Incisive Specman and Incisive Enterprise Simulator, offers the most advanced technology for testbench creation with the aspect-oriented coding capabilities on top of the e language. When used in conjunction with Incisive Enterprise Manager, using the Plan-to-Closure Methodology, users can better automate the deployment of their testing, measure simulation runs, analyze failures and coverage data from several sources, and control the steps toward system-level signoff. With the massive amount of coverage data created throughout the verification of large networking devices these highly scalable coverage capabilities are becoming more critical.

"We're proud to be working closely with STMicroelectronics to verify some of today's most advanced multimedia and communication devices," said Michal Siwinski, marketing group director at Cadence. "It's exciting to see how they continue to develop innovative ways to further take advantage of our advanced verification solutions."

The Incisive Enterprise Manager and Specman technology as part of Incisive Enterprise Simulator and Incisive Specman are key elements of the Cadence advanced verification solution for verification engineers, and are currently available.

About Cadence
Cadence enables global electronic-design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence® software and hardware, methodologies, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. Cadence reported 2006 revenues of approximately $1.5 billion, and has approximately 5,300 employees. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com